


Everywhere I Go

by RoseByAnyOtherName17



Series: The Lion, the Wolf and the Dragon [16]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Arguing, F/M, Fear, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-20 18:57:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14900121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseByAnyOtherName17/pseuds/RoseByAnyOtherName17
Summary: "I never should have brought you here with me," Arya said desperately. "I should've known."





	Everywhere I Go

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all like it :) feedback appreciated as always
> 
> title from the song by Sleeping At Last

“You want me to rule a castle?” Gendry gaped at her.

 

“I want you to rule a _kingdom_ ,” Arya corrected.

 

“Just because my father _might_ have been Robert Baratheon doesn’t mean I know how to rule!” he exclaimed. “I was raised as a smith, Arya, not a prince or a lord!”

 

Arya smirked a little. “If it makes you feel better, Robert _was_ raised a lord and he still had next to no skill in ruling Westeros.” She shook away her amusement when he actually dropped his hammer. “Look, you’re getting way, way ahead of yourself. All that needs to be done now is to hold Storm’s End. That’s what we’ll do – you and me. After the war – after _both_ wars – something more permanent can be figured out.”

 

“Does Daenerys know about me?” he demanded.

 

“Of course not,” Arya scoffed. “The way to the Stormlands now is strictly through me and my family’s connection to House Baratheon. But later, when all is said and done, they’re going to need someone to be Lord Paramount of the Stormlands.”

 

Gendry shook his head. “After this war, there’s another one. You told me that. I’m not going to sit in some dusty old castle while you fight with your family. I promised I would protect you, no matter what.”

 

He had that desperate wildness in his eyes, reminiscent of the way he had looked at her the first time she saw him in Riverrun. _You told me once that you could be my family._ And gods, but she’d meant it then, and she meant it now. He was right; she couldn’t leave him behind after all of this.

 

She took a deep breath. “Right now, we need to take Storm’s End and rally the Stormlands. Together. No one needs to know who you might be. You’re with me, and if that isn’t enough…I’m the daughter of Ned Stark. Hopefully that still means something to them.”

 

Gendry still looked uncertain. “You’re sure that Daenerys doesn’t know about me?”

 

“All that she knows is that you’re with me,” Arya promised. “And that’s all anyone needs to know.”

 

Gendry sighed. “Okay,” he agreed. “So how do we take the Stormlands?”

 

**

 

They were to set sail again the morning after next, to Gendry’s displeasure. He wasn’t fond of travel by sea; half of their voyage to Dragonstone had been characterized by him leaning over the side of the ship and Arya rubbing a soothing pattern between his shoulder blades. He had only really begun to come back to himself the morning they landed. Arya would’ve been amused by his annoyance if she wasn’t so worried about Storm’s End and convincing the Stormlords to join them and everything else. Barristan Selmy had been giving Gendry _looks_ , each one longer than the last. He had spent a lot of time with Robert Baratheon, she knew. If there was anyone who might recognize the connection, it would be Barristan. She wished she had remembered that before bringing Gendry here.

 

Her stomach dropped the night before they were to leave, when she was sparring with Barristan and he said, as casually as if discussing the weather, “Your Gendry has a strong resemblance to Robert Baratheon.”

 

Arya hated that she stumbled in shock, which allowed Barristan to knock Needle from her hand and touch his broadsword to the side of her neck. She breathed in sharply, staring into the old man’s wise eyes, and struggled to find an answer. “I hadn’t noticed,” she settled on unconvincingly.

 

Barristan lowered his sword. “Lady Stark, I remember the night your direwolf ran away,” he said quietly. “No one had ever looked into the eyes of the king with such bold fury before. You remember Robert’s eyes, don’t you?”

 

“Lots of people have blue eyes,” Arya responded.

 

“None quite like his,” Barristan pointed out, “except for his children.”

 

“Joffrey’s eyes were not blue.” She would know. She had stared into his the way she had stared into Robert’s.

 

“My Lady, we both know that Cersei Lannister’s children were not Robert Baratheon’s children.”

 

Arya glanced across the beach, where Gendry with Nymeria in the sand, talking to Grey Worm. _I never should have brought him here._ “All of Robert’s bastards were killed by the Goldcloaks a long time ago,” she tried desperately.

 

“No one ever found the smith’s apprentice that your father and Jon Arryn went to see,” Barristan said gently. “Except for you, it seems.”

 

“You can’t tell Her Grace,” Arya pleaded, losing all pretense. “If she thinks, even for a second, that Gendry is Robert’s son, she’ll have him killed. I promised Gendry that I would protect him.”

 

“I am sworn to Her Grace, as are you,” Barristan reminded her. “And she is not so cruel.”

 

“Then she’ll take him away and imprison him! I can’t let that happen.”

 

Barristan sighed. “My Lady, he will not remain a secret forever. If you take Storm’s End with him at your side, the lords will see the resemblance between him and Robert as well. The longer it is kept hidden from Her Grace, the worse the punishment will be – for _both_ of you.”

 

“But Gendry doesn’t want to be king,” Arya said. “He’s only ever wanted to have a forge and a family.”

 

Barristan put a hand on her shoulder. “Lady Stark, you know that you could not be his family. Highborn bastard or not, you two could never…”

 

“I have never wanted to marry,” Arya told him coldly, even though her brother’s words about love had her doubting that, since finding Gendry. “And what if he is not Robert’s son? You could be condemning him for something he isn’t.”

 

“Do you truly believe that he is not the son of Robert Baratheon?” Barristan asked.

 

Arya couldn’t answer.

 

**

 

She wanted to run that night. Take Gendry and Nymeria and steal a boat and just leave. If they could make it to White Harbor, they could travel to Winterfell and that would be the end of it. _But it wouldn’t._ If she left now, Daenerys would consider it treason. And going home would put her family in danger, Night King or not.

 

“I should have known,” she said, running a hand through her loose hair. “Lord Barristan served Robert for years. I never should have brought you with me.”

 

Gendry watched her pace. “It’s not your fault,” he insisted for the third time.

 

“I’ve put you in danger, of course it’s my fault!” she burst out. “My best friend in the whole world, and I brought you right to yet another person who might have you killed just for who your father _might_ have been! All that talk about ruling castles and kingdoms. I should’ve left you in Riverrun where you were safe.”

 

Gendry stood up. “Stop it,” he said roughly, grabbing her arm and swinging her around to face him. “First of all, you couldn’t have left me behind if you tried, so to hell with that kind of thinking. Secondly, what’s done is done. How could you have predicted that Barristan would recognize me? You couldn’t have known any of this. And even if you had—”

 

“I never would have risked bringing you here!”

 

“Well, considering you won’t order me around like everyone else, _Milady_ , that was never your choice,” Gendry interrupted her firmly. “So enough of that kind of talk. This is where we are right now. We can’t run, we can’t deny that I have a strong resemblance to Robert Baratheon. So what do we do?”

 

Arya gazed up at him miserably. “I’m so sorry, Gendry.”

 

He put his other hand on her shoulder and gently shook her. “Enough of that,” he murmured. “Come on. What is the worst thing she could do to me? Tell me.”

 

“Have Drogon burn you alive,” Arya answered, and immediately regretted it when Gendry flinched a little. “It’s how she executed the masters in Slaver’s Bay.”

 

Gendry nodded thoughtfully. “She has a soft spot for you,” he reasoned. “It’s not hard to see. And she isn’t cruel. I don’t think she will have me killed, especially because she knew you had lost me once before. What would you do if she tried?”

 

“She’d have a blade through her heart before the words finished leaving her mouth.”

 

That, Gendry wasn’t fazed about. “She won’t risk your loyalty like that. Your support means having the North behind her. She needs you. And to have you at her side…”

 

“You have to be by mine,” Arya said immediately. “If you are anywhere but next to me, she can forget about the North. I’ll declare war on her myself.” A raised eyebrow, and she sighed. “Okay, my head would be cut off before I could. But I mean it, you’re never leaving my side again.”

 

Gendry grinned. “Is that an order, Milady?”

 

Arya punched him in the stomach. “Your life is in danger and you’re making jokes?”

 

Gendry shrugged, still smiling. “I figure my life has been in danger since my supposed father died. If I wait to joke until I’m safe again, I’ll be on my deathbed before I get to.”

 

Arya breathed in deeply and held it for a moment. “I would never make you stay with me,” she said quietly. “If you want to go, you can. I won’t stop you.”

 

Gendry shook her again, then cupped the back of her neck with his hand and pulled her into him so that he could put his chin on top of her head. “I’m never leaving you,” he whispered. “You’re my family now. And whether that means I die tomorrow or in fifty years, it’ll be okay.”

 

_You two are very close,_ Tyrion’s words echoed in her head as she tucked her nose into the hollow of Gendry’s throat and wrapped her arms around his waist. _He is nothing like Jon and Sansa,_ she thought to herself, closing her eyes and letting herself be held.

 

**

 

“Robert Baratheon’s bastard son?” Daenerys said. Arya had never heard her voice so cold, and the fear she felt was awful.

 

“Or so the Goldcloaks thought,” Gendry responded. “But I never knew my father, nor did my mother. She was a whore, you see.” He radiated calm, but Arya could see his hands twisted together in front of him. She wished she could take them in hers.

 

“Did you suspect?” Daenerys turned her gaze on Arya now.

 

Arya couldn’t lie under her violet eyes. “Not until recently,” she said. “When we travelled before…all I wanted was for us to survive.”

 

“So why hide your suspicions?”

 

“Your Grace, you burned the masters in Slaver’s Bay,” Arya said. “I was not willing to risk Gendry’s life on a ‘maybe—’”

 

“I would not kill the friend that you had lost,” Daenerys interrupted

 

“And I was not willing to take Storm’s End without him at my side, or go anywhere without him for that matter!” Arya finished loudly. “I will not leave Dragonstone without Gendry. I’m sorry for keeping this from you, Your Grace, but I’m not sorry for protecting him. I have lost far too many people in my life. I will not lose him too.”

 

Tyrion was watching her with something akin to pity. Arya didn’t want it.

 

“What would you have done if someone in the Stormlands recognized him?” Daenerys asked her. “If they declared for him?”

 

And she already had an answer. “No one declared for Edric Storm, and he looked just like Robert did during the war. Gendry has his eyes, not his face or body.”

 

“He does have Robert’s inclination for warhammers instead of swords,” Barristan pointed out.

 

“Lots of men prefer a hammer to a sword,” Gendry finally spoke up in his own defense. “They don’t stick. A man can heal from a wound made by a sword, but if you crush his head or chest in, there is nothing left for him to do but die.” After a long pause, he said, “Your Grace, I do not want to rule Westeros. All I’ve ever wanted is a family. That’s Lady Arya. Nothing else matters to me as long as I have her.”

 

Daenerys seemed to soften, just a little, with a raised eyebrow and the corner of her mouth twitching. Tyrion’s pity seemed to melt into amusement, and Barristan cleared his throat by the door. _Oh._ Arya wondered if Gendry meant the words the way everyone in the room seemed to take it. Even little Missandei in the corner had raised her hand to her mouth, presumably to hide a smile.

 

She wondered if he meant it the way that they thought, and then she wondered why it didn’t scare her that the answer might be “yes.”

 

**

 

Gendry wasn’t imprisoned or executed and Daenerys didn’t say that he couldn’t go with Arya to Storm’s End.

 

He had to swear fealty to Daenerys. She tried to make him swear to Arya as well, but Arya wouldn’t allow it. “I understand that it is not proper,” she argued, “but when we met I was pretending to be a boy and we were both on the run from a family that wanted us dead. As far as I’m concerned, Gendry is my equal, and that’s the end of it.” This time Missandei couldn’t hold in her giggles, even when Daenerys chided her gently for it, and even Grey Worm, the usually disciplined Unsullied soldier, was just barely smiling.

 

Once Arya and Gendry were finally alone, long after the sun had set and the only ones left awake were the guards, Gendry burst into laughter. “Hush!” Arya scolded, but she couldn’t stop her own grin. She was giddy with relief and exhaustion, having been unable to sleep the night before.

 

When they finally calmed down, she settled into the bunk with Gendry on the floor next to her. The embers from the fires cast little light, but Arya could see the shadow of Nymeria curled up next to his head. She grunted in annoyance when Gendry began giggling like a child again. “Arya,” he whispered into the semi-darkness, “Arya, they think we’re in love.”

 

And Arya laughed too, because she didn’t think they were wrong. What she told Gendry was, “If it’s kept you alive and with me, they can think whatever they want.” But she caught the reflection of his eyes smiling up at her, and thought also that he probably knew what she meant.


End file.
